In defence of showmances/romances
 

Why people find it so difficult to accept that young, attractive people will end up fancying each other on a show like this is beyond me. It could be people fancying each other, or one person fancying someone without it being reciprocated. Either way, every year, without fail, something like this has happened. Let me list examples...

BB1: Melanie and Andrew. Melanie and Tom
BB2: Helen and Paul.
BB3: Lee and Adele. Spencer and Kate. Adele and Alex. Lee and Sophie. PJ and Jade (How about that!). Ths was the highest rated series of all time!
BB4: Scott and Nush (and Tickle was rather fond of her as well)
BB5: Michelle and Stuart
BB6: Saskia and Maxwell. Makosi and Anthony. Craig and Anthony (Surely the most fascinating ever)
BB7: Imogen and Sezer. Mikey and Grace. Pete and just about everybody else. And don't say him and Nikki weren't attracted to each other. Pete sunk into a depression after Nikki was evicted.
BB8: Chanelle and Ziggy.
BB9: Dale and Jen. Rex and his girlfriend
BB10: Sophie and Kris. Noirin and Sree/Marcus/Siavash/Tom/Isaac (rather amusingly)
BB11: John James and Josie. Keeva and Shabby. Even Mario and Ben
BB12: Aaron and Faye. Louise and Jay
BB13: Ashleigh and Chris
BB14: Hazel and Daley (So much sexual tension it almost turned violent)
BB15: Steven and Kimberly. Helen and Ash. Marc and Christopher
BB16: Sarah and Danny. Marc and Sam.

Then we have the most popular Celebrity series on Channel 5 with Lee and Casey and Lee and Jasmine. And also the most popular celebrity series on Channel 4 with Preston and Chantelle

Celebrity Hijack had Emilia and Jeremy often being very flirtacious, and I recall a lot of people on the forums liking those two.

The fact is Big Brother is a show about human relations. You can't not show what is going on between people in the house and if an intense relationship is forming between a male and female (or two males or two women) they simply must draw attention to that, otherwise you're not getting an accurate reflection of events. I don't think the show should revolve around them, but they are and always have been a part of Big Brother. And actually, the most successful series (the third) featured more of them than any other series. Ultimately, it's the characters involved in these relationships that determine whether or not they are interesting or amusing.

I can't speak for anyone else however my view is this.


I totally accept that people will find each other attractive - however I find it utterly boring to watch, especially if we are looking a bloody duvet cover.

I find nothing entertaining about watching two people gaze into each other's eyes.

Yes, but we all know that that is not what only happens. It can happen, and they should not focus on that. But if you take Daley and Hazel a couple of years ago. I personally found watching them much more interesting than watching Mikey and Grace (and interestingly they didn't focus much on Mikey and Grace during BB7)

As for the comment about the "duvet cover". I presume this refers to John James and Josie. Now I agree it was a shame that a lot of live coverage that could have been covering something else was focused on John James and Josie underneath a duvet doing very little (most of the housemates were usually in ed as well from what I recall), but John James and Josie was in its own way an interesting relationship. Josie clearly was attracted to him, and he was very fond of her without there being any sexual attraction I suspect. I think Keeva was right about him possibly being asexual (and maybe a virgin). The sight of a grow man bursting out of the fire exit because of the predicament he was in, was rather amusing to me anyway.

Yes of course, some pairings are better to watch than others. I found Lee Ryan's story very amusing.

But in general I would rather watch other things happening on BB.

Same, I find Big Brother relationships on the whole to be super dull viewing. Not something I'm interested in watching every night.

Nah, it's not just about them. I was bored watching Harry & Nick, watching marc & Sam, watching Jay & Louise and it goes on.

I just don't find watching two people under a duvet all that entertaining and that's it.

Such as what? Big Brother is and always will be about human interaction. The more intense, then often the more interesting. Danny and Sarah was not particularly interesting and quite frustrating because Danny was dull whilst Sarah was an interesting character that was losing her individuality.

Hazel and Daley on the other hand both had a strong presence about them, and were clearly attracted to each other. Putting them in a room together the way the producers did, was one of the stupidest moves they've ever made, as there was no need whatsoever to do it and they only lost what was an interesting storyline developing between two strong characters, with other housemates looking on and having their own opinions about it.

The only 'showmance' that interested me was John James and Josie, the rest have bored me to tears

...wow, I must have paid less attention to BB13 than I'd thought...

I don't think Helen and Paul were dull. Actually quite sweet and amusing at times. I thought Spencer was an interesting character, who was difficult to read, so his relationship with Kate was interesting to me. I actually found PJ and Jade very funny together even if there was about as much romance to it as a couple of drunkards shagging.

Michelle and Stuart was funny just because the boy looked terrified and totally disinterested at times.

Chanelle was actually quite a funny housemate and her relationship with Ziggy amused me.

Tasks
Evictions
Nominations
Secret missions
Segregation
Pranks
Arguments
Interesting debates/conversations
Lack of food
Winning parties
Getting drunk
Diary room rants
Bitching
Meltdown



And the list continues



Why can't you just accept that some people find showmances boring ..:laugh:

That's very interesting. Because that one is usually cited as the worst of the lot.

But I agree with you. Both were strong characters and the question of what was going on in John James's mind throughout is an interesting one. Was he an asexual virgin who didn't know what to do? Was he simply just not attracted to Josie like she obviously was him. Was he just very shy in regards to that sort of thing. There was more to it than just the pair of them being under a duvet.

No romance has ever got in the way of those.

Or these.


A pet hate of mine. Can't stand it when the producers out of nowhere just give a particular individual a storyline like that. It seems unfair to me. And more often than not, they're a distraction from all the storylines that have developed naturally.

Plenty of that during BB3. The series that had the most relationships of them all. I daresay the closer certain housemates get the more likely you are to get arguments.

All of these things seem more interesting to me when there are housemates attracted to each other and there is a lot of jealousy and resentment from others as a result.

I can. But I would like for people to actually explain properly what there problem is. Every year without fail people complain about them, but they never explain why it is such a problem or how it detracts from the show. As such I find it little more than people just whinging about something that has and always will be a part of Big Brother. And possibly part of a winning formula for any series of Big Brother.

LOL It was Luke S and Ashleigh, They called themselves 'Lush'.

I tried to explain to you that I find them boring to watch. I can't help you any more if you don't are struggling to accept my reason behind my answer.


I don't like watching people dance, so I don't watch Strictly Come Dancing.

Simply finding showmances to be boring to watch is a perfectly valid explanation. It's not whinging at all, it's called an opinion. :joker:

Thank you. :laugh:

Because a disproportionate amount of the limited highlights we get is focused on just two (occasionally three) people, and it gets constantly discussed on BOTS etc.

The Lee Ryan triangle was funny as hell, and I thought Kate and Spencer were actually quite sweet and genuine, but the rest of them bored me terribly and I resent that we don't get to see other things going on because we have to be shown endless duvet shots.

I don't even mind on-air romances, as long as they are real. Fake relationships that end after just weeks are annoying especially with all the 'you are my world' crap days before breaking up.

I agree, I've never understood why people get so annoyed over showmances/relationships, they don't bother me at all :shrug:

I especially don't mind them if they're messy and hilarious, i.e. Steven and Kimberly

I think we can all agree that they should never focus too heavily on them. But I get a bit frustrated when the mere hint of two people being attracted to each other results in people on forums immediately going "Oh no, it's another showmance! Please stop showing them together! It's ruining the show". The fact is they are a part of the show and always have been.

To dismiss every one of them as "boring" as some people do seems absurd to me.

What one's were fake though? Rather than just Holiday romances that petered out? People thought Saskia was using Maxwell. The truth is they were genuinely together after the show and living with each other. People refuse to acknowledge that Nikki and Pete were together just because they undoubtably did pretend to still be together for the cameras for a short while after they had split (after all of a couple of weeks back in the real world). It's hardly surprising that two characters like Nikki and Pete would (1) be attracted to each other and (2) it wouldn't last very long.

Has any BB relationship ever truly been "fake"? And what is meant by that? Have any housemates ever forced themselves to pretend to be attracted to another housemate?

They take away from actual interesting things that are happening in the house and the producers think we want to see constant conversation and kissing noises under a duvet when most of us don't.

It's nothing to do with not acceptting that they can be attracted to each other.

Such as what? often they are the most interesting things going on in the house.


It clearly is or else people wouldn't be calling them fake.

Such as tasks, decent conversations ( not from under a duvet) DR entries, arguments the list goes on....

Most are fake :shrug: